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Welcome to Prospective Graduate Students

knot theory

We welcome your interest in graduate study in our department. We hope what has been written at this website will help you to decide whether or not our department and its programs are appropriate for you, and to instruct you as to how to apply for admission should you decide to do so.

The faculty of the Department of Mathematics is engaged in research in many branches of pure and applied mathematics. The Department has 48 professors and is expanding towards 60. These faculty members earned their PhD's at many of the world's foremost institutions. Much of their research is supported by the National Science Foundation and other federal and state agencies. They work in algebra and number theory, algebraic geometry, algebraic and differential topology and knot theory, analysis and applied mathematics, combinatorics and graph theory, control theory, ergodic theory, mathematics of materials science, operator semigroups and functional analysis, harmonic analysis, Lie groups and representation theory, partial and stochastic differential equations, probability, and semigroups. A detailed list of faculty members appears elsewhere at this website. There is also a listing of research groups available.

The Department has expanded this year to 90 graduate students, who come from all over the United States and from many foreign countries. They are working towards PhD's in the fields represented by the faculty. From 1940 to 2003, the Department awarded PhD's to 226 students (28 of these since 2000). These graduates, including five winners of Sloane Fellowships, are faculty members at many fine universities and colleges in the United States and abroad. The excellent ratio of student enrollment to faculty permits close personal guidance for each student, including an individually tailored curriculum. Men, women, American minorities, and international students are all well represented among the Department's students and graduates. The Department warmly welcomes applications for graduate admission from qualified students.

There are many advanced seminars each semester for graduate students and faculty. Conferences in many areas of active research are held here. Every third or fourth year LSU hosts the Southeastern International Conference on Combinatorics, Graph Theory, and Computing. A highlight of each year is the Porcelli Lectures (a memorial series established in memory of Pasquale Porcelli, a former faculty member) which is presented by an internationally prominent mathematician.

In addition to its traditional strengths, there are many new initiatives underway in the Department of Mathematics. These include a Research Semester Off Campus (which can be spent in an overseas Exchange Program, for example), Summer Internships in local industries which hire PhD Mathematicians, interdisciplinary MS concentrations, and a Mathematics Consultation Clinic, in which students and faculty assist local businesses and industry with mathematical problems.

The University has identified the Department of Mathematics as one of several on campus to qualify for specially enhanced funding. As a result, the Department can now offer outstanding applicants for doctoral study the highest stipends in its history - up to $26,000 per academic year. The Department offers Fellowships, Assistantships, and other Financial awards to assist graduate students in their studies. Please see the heading called `Funding' to read this information. In order to maximize your eligibility for financial aid, applications must be received by the Mathematics Department (including all supporting documents and test scores) before February 1. Read more about this in the section on Financial Aid.

We feel that our faculty and programs of study are outstanding in those areas of Mathematics in which we are represented, and many of our graduates have gone on to distinguished careers in mathematics. We would warmly welcome your application to enter our programs.

If you are interested in our graduate program, please e-mail or snail mail to us your name and address. We will be happy to respond to your questions.

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